


Slipped Away

by playpretendbetweenthetrees



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Car Accidents, Flashbacks, M/M, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-06
Updated: 2013-02-06
Packaged: 2017-11-28 09:52:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/673072
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/playpretendbetweenthetrees/pseuds/playpretendbetweenthetrees
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's one year later and Liam is having flashbacks of Zayn's death and the days that follow. Will two small girls and a butterfly keep him from falling into despair?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Slipped Away

Liam slowly sat down on the park bench. He looked out at his surroundings. He doesn’t remember coming here, but he does recognize it as Zayn’s favorite park. Little kids were laughing merrily. How could they be so happy when Liam was dying inside? It’d been an entire year already; an entire year without the love of his life. He could remember it as clearly as if it were yesterday.  


_“Oi! Be careful out there! There’ll be a bunch of nutters on the road tonight!” Liam yelled at Zayn’s back._  


_Zayn turned around and looked at him, smirking slightly. “I’m always careful, love.” Zayn placed a gentle kiss on Liam’s cheek. Liam turned a slight shade of pink. They’d been dating for a few months, but Liam still wasn’t used to the touching part of the relationship yet. Of course they’d been friends for years so he shouldn’t be like this, right? Wrong. Zayn had always had an air about him that Liam could never put his finger on it, but it was one of his favorite things.  
_

_Zayn chuckled. He loved making Liam blush; he thought it was the cutest thing in the world.  
_

_“I have to go now, love.” Zayn pecked Liam on the lips this time, causing Liam’s blush to darken.  
_

_“Do you really have to go? Can’t you just stay the night here?” Liam questioned. His eyes were full of worry.  
_

_“I wish I could, but I have to get up unbearably early for my flight.”  
_

_Liam sighed, wrapped his arms around his boyfriend, and returned the kiss.  
_

_Zayn smiled and left without another word.  
_

Liam was trying to hold back the waterfall of tears that were threatening to escape his eyes at any moment. He never got the chance to say “I love you”. He’d been contemplating it for a while, but never got the courage to say it aloud. He knew Zayn loved him, too. It was something they both felt, but never voiced.  


Somewhere in the distance, a little girl squealed with delight. Liam looked up to see her chasing a monarch butterfly. Her strawberry blonde curls floating an pink and white polka-dot dress billowing about her as she jumped and ran around.  


_Liam knew Zayn well enough to know that he was a bit absent-minded at times. That’s why it didn’t strike Liam as odd when he didn’t get a sign from Zayn that he was home safely. It wasn’t until he got a call at 2 am that he panicked. He didn’t recognize the number, but picked it up anyways.  
_

_“Hello?” His voice broke, already preparing himself for the worse. He knew he was probably overreacting, and Zayn was completely fine. He wasn’t.  
_

_“Is this Liam Payne?” Came a woman’s voice from the other end. She sounded really distressed, not helping Liam’s nerves.  
_

_“Yes.” His voice was barely above a whisper.  
_

_“This is the hospital. There’s been an accident, and Zayn Malik has you as his first emergency contact.”  
_

_Liam’s phone slipped from his hand, not hearing anything else she said. He grabbed a pair of pants and his keys. The drive from his flat to the hospital was all one big blur. He ran through the automatic doors and up to the front desk asking for Zayn’s room.  
_

_Nothing could prepare him for the sight he met in Zayn’s room. His hair was matted with blood; road rash covered his face and of what Liam could see of his arms. He dropped to his knees in disbelief. This couldn’t be happening.  
_

_He doesn’t remember calling Niall; but when him, Harry, and Louis showed up, he knew he must have. Niall placed a hand on Liam’s shoulder, squeezing it reassuringly. The other three boys were in shock when they saw Zayn’s bloodied form lying on the hospital bed. Louis left the room in tears, Harry punched the wall, and Niall sat on his knees hugging Liam.  
_

_“It’s going to be okay, Liam. He’s strong, he’ll pull through,” Niall whispered encouraging into Liam’s ear, his voice cracking.  
_

Another little girl had joined the other in chasing the butterfly. This one was brunette with a large blue bow holding back her hair; it matched her dress perfectly. They were so care-free and innocent. Why couldn’t life be just like that? Reality was a cruel punishment. He wanted nothing more than a sign that Zayn was okay in what afterlife he was in. Just something simple. Was that so much to ask for?  


_“We did all we could in surgery, but his condition is still very unstable,” the doctor explained to the four boys.  
_

_Liam’s ears started ringing. Zayn might not make it through this?  
_

_“Li, come sit on a chair.” Harry was already guiding Liam by his arm. He set the small trash can in front of him. “You look like you’re going to be sick.”  
_

_Liam still couldn’t speak though. It felt like his throat had completely swollen shut. Harry was rubbing comforting circles on his back. Louis walked into the room with a bouquet of yellow roses: Zayn’s favorite. Liam smiled a sad smile, desperately hoping Zayn would be able to see them soon.  
_

_He wouldn’t. Despite all the care the hospital was giving him, all the special attention to see him come through the coma, his brain injuries were too serious, and he died three days later.  
_

_The days that followed were agonizing. He helped Zayn’s family with the funeral arrangements. It wasn’t until the day of the actual funeral that Liam cried tears. Before, he would sob and sob, but tears refused to come.  
_

_Seeing Zayn’s body in the coffin was what set him off. Liam placed his hand on top of Zayn’s. He was so cold and lifeless, not at all like the Zayn he knew. The Zayn he knew was the life of the party and always full of warmth even on the coldest day of the year.  
_

_“I love you, Zayn Malik.” A tear escaped his eyes.  
_

_Liam felt three people surround him in a group hug. He wasn’t sure exactly who he was crying on, and he didn’t care. He cried and cried until physically couldn’t anymore.  
_

Liam was spaced-out, not paying attention to anything around him anymore. He almost didn’t notice a butterfly had landed on his nose. It wasn’t until it moved its wings a few times that he actually snapped back to reality. Not wanting to scare it, he kept completely still. The two girls ran up to him and squealed with delight.  


“Zayn likes you!” The blonde girl exclaimed, giggling with the brunette.  


Liam looked at her, feeling as if all the air had been ripped from his lungs. “You named the butterfly?” He finally managed to choke out.  


“Yeah! We named him after the nice man who would come and play with us, but we haven’t seen him in a while.” The brunette girl looked down at her feet dejectedly.  


“We miss him,” the first girl chimed in.  


At that moment, the butterfly left Liam’s nose and landed on next to him on the back of the bench.  


“Yeah, I miss him, too.” He muttered.  


The two girls snapped their heads back toward him. “You knew him!” They shrieked in unision.  


Liam breathed out a laugh. “Yeah. We were in love.”  


The girls climbed onto the bench on either side of him, each taking one of his hands in theirs.  


“Will you tell us how you met?”  


Liam smiled sweetly down at each of them.  


“It would be my honor.” Liam proceeded to tell the two small girls about the first time he met Zayn and how they fell in love. The entire time, the monarch butterfly stayed on that bench, listening to Liam’s story as well.  


After the girls left, he turned to the butterfly and whispered a quiet, “Thank you.”

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first one shot. Please don't hate me.


End file.
